The downfall of a mercenary

Posted By Uncle Jimbo

Mark Hemingway, an NRO staff writer, has a very interesting and well-researched piece in the Weekly Standard, about Simon Mann and his ill-fated and potentially "Dogs of War"-based coup attempt in Equatorial Guinea. I have some personal experience and knowledge about the groups Mann was involved with and was recruited to help raise and equip a mercenary operation in the Ivory Coast (I declined). This type of operation is rare, but still happens. I had the chance to discuss this article with Mark weekend before last and his piece definitely delivers.

Forsyth told Roberts he was shocked to realize Mann's plot "was almost the same, blow by blow, as my novel!"-and noted the similarities: the external financiers, funding through dummy companies, the lure of mineral wealth, the would-be leader in exile. It's difficult to overestimate what a revered text The Dogs of War is in the military underworld. Any mercenary of note in the last 35 years likely has a dog-eared copy of the book in his kit.

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The downfall of a mercenary

Mark Hemingway, an NRO staff writer, has a very interesting and well-researched piece in the Weekly Standard, about Simon Mann and his ill-fated and potentially "Dogs of War"-based coup attempt in Equatorial Guinea. I have some personal experience and knowledge about the groups Mann was involved with and was recruited to help raise and equip a mercenary operation in the Ivory Coast (I declined). This type of operation is rare, but still happens. I had the chance to discuss this article with Mark weekend before last and his piece definitely delivers.

Forsyth told Roberts he was shocked to realize Mann's plot "was almost the same, blow by blow, as my novel!"-and noted the similarities: the external financiers, funding through dummy companies, the lure of mineral wealth, the would-be leader in exile. It's difficult to overestimate what a revered text The Dogs of War is in the military underworld. Any mercenary of note in the last 35 years likely has a dog-eared copy of the book in his kit.

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The best line I've read in a while, in a story about a failed coup in Ivory Coast Equatorial Guinea: "And even considering that Simon Mann had spent most of his adult life obliterating the... [Read More]